On April 21, U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) called Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and John McCain (R-AZ) President Obama's lapdogs when it comes to U.S. foreign policy.

Americans for Prosperity (AFP), the network of small-government advocacy groups steered by billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch, is expanding into new states and attracting new donors in its efforts leading into 2016.

SACRAMENTO, CALIF. -- A new bill that would require more children to be vaccinated before they enter California schools passed through the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday. The bill has sparked the ire of many anti-vaccination organizations that span the idealogical spectrum.

Whenever people in a multifaceted, multicultural civilization try to have a civil discussion, things can get complicated very quickly. Our past experiences, our societal conditioning, our moral assumptions can place us in very different worlds when it comes to communicating. We talk to each other — sometimes using identical vocabulary — but we discover that words don’t necessarily mean the same things for people whose very lives function with an entirely different complex of meaning than our own.

IVN reported on a mostly ignored study claiming that the world, especially China, was at risk of default (and possible economic meltdown) because of skyrocketing debt burdens.

On Tuesday, almost all media outlets worldwide picked up on the first Chinese-state owned business allowed to default.

primary election system. The Republican and Democratic parties have worked hand-in-hand for over a century to make ‘their’ party primaries the centerpiece of the entire electoral process.

For example, there is Right to Rise, the committee supporting a presidential run by former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, and there is America Rising, another PAC designated to raise and spend unlimited sums of money in hopes of defeating Hillary Clinton in 2016.

“After a long and dreary winter, the streets of Washington are once again in bloom. While the most vibrant displays of color and renewal can be found around the monuments and Tidal Basin, spring has also brought some surprising flourishes of possibility to Congress.” - Jason Grumet, President of the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC)

Grumet and the BPC are respected on both sides of the partisan aisle for their innovative approaches and efforts to reduce divisiveness and improve government effectiveness.

Shona Banda, 37, lost custody of her 11-year-old son (at least temporarily) in late March after the boy stood up for the medical benefits of cannabis oil during an anti-drug class at school. The AP reported Monday that Banda did not get custody of her son back after a hearing in Finney County District Court.

A collaborative effort between Patrick Miller of the University of Kansas and Pamela Johnston Conover of the University North Carolina at Chapel Hill offers new insight into the growing phenomenon behind political polarization in the United States. The study, titled Red and Blue States of Mind: Partisan Hostility and Voting in the United States, was published in Political Research Quarterly on March 30.